Lightning-arrester



No. 606,954. Patented July 5, I898. W. E. ATHEARN.

LIGHTNING ARRESTER.

(Application filed Aug. 9, 1897.)

(No Model.)

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Uwrrnn Status ll ntrnwr Orricia VILLIAM ED'WARD ATIIEARN, OF BROOKLYN, NEIV Y ORK.

LEGHTNING=ARRESTER SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 606,954, dated July 5, 1898.

Application filed August 9, 1897, Serial No. 647,661. (No model) T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM EDWARD ATHEARN, a citizen of the United States, and

a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kin gs I and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lightning-Arresters, of which the following is a specification, which I declare to be a full and exact description of my invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to devices for diverting static and other stray electric currents from lines for the protection of said lines, instruments, and machinery, commonly known as lightning-arresters; and has for its object a simplified and unfailing method of accomplishing this purpose. tained by the means set forth in the specification and the accompanying drawings, which 'fully explain the principles that render my device effective.

Figures I and II are representations of wire coils or helices. Fig. III is a flat spiral. Fig. IV illustrates a form of my lightning-arrester.

It is a tolerably-well-known fact that light. ning-currents or any heavy static discharges in passing through a coil do not traverse the convolutions of the coil as do currents of lowtension, but leap from one convolution to another. Thus if Fig. I represents a spiral or coil of wire and a lightning charge be supposed to enter it from the right-hand end instead of the current passing round and round the coil the entire length of the wire it will leap from convolution to convolution, as indicated by the broken lines cl d d. If a ground-plate g be placed contiguous to the coil, as shown, then the discharges will be from the right-hand convolutions to the plate, as indicated at a a a, and the retarding effect of the coil will cause the current to so leave the coil from the first several convolutions. A peculiar feature of the action is the fact that the current does not all leave the coil at the first convolution; If the current comes from the right, then the discharges will take place from the first fewright-hand convolutions, diminishing in intensity with each succeeding convolution. This distribution of the discharge possesses an important advantage, to wit: The usual forms of lightning-arresters The object is at--' carry off the current at one discharge, with the result that the intensity of the discharge frequently fuses the ground-plate at the point Where the discharge strikes it and raises a bur of metal on the plate. hen the arrester-plates lie very close to each other or are separated only by some thin non-conductor, this bur will be and commonly is suffi cient to make a contact between the two plates, or if not making an actual contact will so shorten the space between the bur and the opposite plate as to facilitate the formation of an are from the main line to the ground. The tendency of the coil to break up the current into numerous small discharges entirely overcomes this difficulty, as no single dis charge will be of sufficient intensity to prod'uce such an effect.

In Fig. II, 0 represents a coil, as in Fig. If the ground-plate g be provided with points 6 c e, projecting between the convolutions, the discharge will be from the convolutions to the points, as indicated by the broken lines d d d. Various arrangements may be made to take advantage of this action of the current for the purpose of lightning-arresters. A flat spiral or coil, as shown in Fig. III, may be employed in place of a helix; but I find the form of arrester as shown in IV to be absolutely reliable as a protector inst light hing or other currents of l tensi i.

Fig. IV represents anal-rector consisting of four parts, a base 5, a bodyf of glass, porcelain, or any suitable non-eonductor, a coil 0, forming part of the circuit it is designed to protect, and a ground-plate g. The end h of the body Z) is provided with a binding-post t, tohvhich one terminal of the coil and one end of the line Z are attached. The end j of the body Z) carries two binding-posts, to one of which line Z is attached, and the other terminal of the coil is secured to the other post. These two binding posts are united by a proper fuse-wire provided to protect the line from heavy currents of low tension that will not pass through space and would therefore not jump from the coil to the ground. The portion of the body Z) occupied by the coil is given a spiral groove in which the preferably bare wire is wound. The plate g lies close to the coil, Without, ol course, contact with it, and is adapted for connection with a ground-lino.

:3 606,95&

It is plain that the coil wound on the body Z) might be of insulated wire and so not re quire a spiral groove in which to wind it; but it the insulation of the wire be of a high character, such as rubber or gutta percha, there can be no discharge from the convolutions of the coil to the ground-plate, while if the insulating substance be thin or composed of cotton or other fiber the discharges from the coil will have a tendency to carbonize the insulation and enhance the liability to leakage, and under certain conditions, such as dampness, make actual electrical contact with the ground-plate. Again, the insulating material increases the distance between the convolutions themselves, as well as between the coil and the groiulid-plate thus rendering the apparatus less effective.

The action of this arrester will be plain from the foregoing description. A foreign current entering the coil will pass off through the ground-plate in the manner already described.

It is obvious that the ground may be a plate, wire coil, or any shape which will. answer the purpose of a receiver of the broken discharges.

Plainly I do not wish to be limited in the application of this invention to the form of construction as herein shown and described so long as I adhere to the principles of the invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

A lightning-arrester comprising a porcelain block having a spiral molded on its middle portion to receive a coil of wire, one end of the block provided with a connector to re ceive one end of the coil and one end of the line, the other end of the block having two connectors one for the coiLterminal and one for the other end of the line, the two connectors being connected by a fusible wire, the whole mounted on a base with a ground piate contiguous to the coil, substantially as herein shown and described.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 19th day of July, A. D. 1897.

WILLIAM l llllllllll) A'lllllAllN.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. ORrlm, WM. Annonx. 

